He is editor-in-chief of the academic journal Family Therapy, a former assistant clinical professor of psychiatry at the University of California, San Francisco, and a former adjunct professor of law at the University of California, Hastings College of the Law.
He was instrumental in the development of the use of lithium carbonate for treatment of bipolar disorder and in winning FDA approval for use of this drug in the United States.
[citation needed] In the early 1970s, Blinder was a city councilman and mayor of San Anselmo, California.
In that trial, Blinder testified that White was suffering from depression and pointed to several behavioral symptoms of that depression, including the claim that White had gone from being highly health-conscious to consuming sugary foods and drinks such as Twinkies and Coca-Cola.
A remark by Blinder that the sugar might have worsened such a depression was widely reported as a claim that the sugar had contributed to the depression, giving rise to the derisive label of the "Twinkie defense," for defendants' claims that an unusual biological factor contributed to their commission of a crime.